1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of operating a furnace such as, for example, a rotary oxycombustion furnace, comprising an elbowed flue pipe for discharging the smoke at the furnace outlet, means of introducing ambient air into the said flue pipe and a smoke extractor arranged in the flue pipe, downstream of the said means of introducing ambient air.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods of running such a furnace are known, and in these methods, in a first step, a gas analyser is used to analyse the, for example, CO content of the smoke and, in a second stage, the amounts of fuel and of oxidizing agent introduced into the furnace are adjusted as a function of the measurement result obtained.
These methods of operating a furnace using a gas analyser have the drawback of being expensive and complex.
This is because gas analysers are technologically advanced measurement instruments which are therefore very expensive, especially where highly reliable and very accurate analysers are concerned.
Furthermore, because of the construction and operation of a gas analyser, the measurement results it yields drift over time, which means that the analyser requires regular calibration.
Added to this is the fact that this gas analyser requires the attention of a specially qualified operator to maintain this measurement instrument and keep it operating correctly.
The invention sets out to alleviate these various drawbacks by proposing a method of operating a furnace and a device for implementing this method which is reliable and of low cost.